One male and one female beaver were released in Knapdale on Thursday (24th June 2010) to replace some of the original population of the trial project to reintroduce the species to Scotland after 400 years.
There have been deaths – from natural causes we understand – and mysterious disappearances.
The new arrivals, Norwegian, like those they now join around Loch Chreag Mhor, are here to boost the population over the five year period of the project.
The Scottish Beaver Trial is being conducted in partnership by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland and the Scottish Wildlife Trust.
It remains a controversial initiative, dividing wildlife specialists and the general public from landowners, farmers and gardeners in the area, concerned about the wider ranging impacts of the beavers’ characteristic activities of felling trees and damning watercourses.
A pilot study, conducted with objective integrity and trusted to do so by both sides in the debate, is capable of providing secure evidence to determine the course of action the Scottish Government will decide upon at the end of the trial period.